Creative England Opens $796,000 Fund for Applications

LONDON - Creative England, the organization set up to replace England's regional screen agencies, on Friday opened a £500,000 ($796,377) Film Culture Lottery Fund for applications.

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It uses lottery cash delegated by the British Film Institute to help increase opportunities for audiences to "access, enjoy and understand a broad range of film - specialized, mainstream and archive" across the country, it said.

The organization invited applications from movie cinemas, archives, film festivals and other eligible organizations working in the English regions outside of London. Awards will range from £2,000 ($3,185) to £40,000 ($63,700), it said.

The organization had late last year set up a development fund and a film networks resource fund to the tune of £400,000 ($625,450). While that amount was small in the grand scheme of movie financing, it was cited by filmmakers as being a vital part of funding sources, particularly for low-budget independent films.

“As Creative England gains increasing momentum we are pleased to announce our latest Film Culture Lottery call supporting the best audience development projects across the English regions," said Creative England’s head of film culture Jay Arnold. "We are looking for innovative and dynamic ideas reflecting our ambition and drive. Competition will be fierce, but we are confident we will find those new and exciting projects which will continue to diversify content, platforms and audiences.”

Said Eddie Berg, director of partnerships at the BFI: “The last round of funding awards reflected the breadth and diversity of film culture, with beneficiaries ranging from film festivals to venues to film societies to regional archives.”

Among those that got funds in the previous round were the Bradford International Film Festival, which was awarded £12,000 ($19,110) to help its mission of engaging and enlightening diverse film audiences, and Cinecity in Brighton, which received £10,000 ($15,924) for a year-round program of specialized film and the Brighton Film Festival.

The deadline for applications is mid-day on June 1.

During last year's British Independent Film Awards, the team behind the award-winning Weekend highlighted how important the regional agencies, which Creative England then replaced, had been in getting the movie made.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai